Day Ten - Prosecution's Closing Argument

The day began with Judge J. David Mazurek giving the jury deliberation instructions. When he was finished, it was time for ADA Sean Daugherty to begin his closing arguments.

Jon and Erin Corwin

As he did with his opening statement, Daugherty used a Power Point presentation to illustrate his closing arguments to the jury. He began with a photo of Erin Corwin, to remind everyone who this trial is really about. He said of Erin that she was a young lady from Tennessee who loved horses. And that the case is about, "...the brutality that was inflicted upon her."

Daugherty said the perpetrator of that brutality was Christopher Brandon Lee, and he killed her because he wanted to remove her from his life:

"She was a secret who didn't want to be a secret anymore."

Daugherty then put Lee's mugshot up on the screen, showing him as the overweight, slovenly, bearded, wife-beater wearing ex-Marine he was when he was arrested for murdering Erin. Quite the contrast from the slim, clean-cut, well-dressed young man seated at the defendant's table.

Daugherty laid out the chronology of what he believes happened:

• On June 22, 2014, Erin Corwin discovered she was pregnant after a trip to the ER.
• That same day, Christopher Lee visited the mine where he would eventually abandon Erin's body, and took a photograph of that mine. (Daugherty would later surmise in his rebuttal that Erin had already told Lee she suspected she was pregnant with his baby.)
• That following week, Christopher Lee began Googling "how to dispose of a dead body" and even went as far as asking fellow Marine Andrew Johnson about the possibility of getting rid of a dead body at the Amboy salt pools.
• Johnson testified he saw Lee make a list of materials like a shovel and the chemical "Lye" that same day. 
• Lee began planning a hunting trip and invited friends he knew in advance wouldn't be able to come with him. "This was a ruse," Daugherty told the jury.
• He told Erin he was taking her on a surprise getaway to celebrate her pregnancy.
• He took Erin on this trip June 28, 2014, with everything he would need to commit a murder (the garrote) and dispose of a body (the propane tank, the water jugs filled with gasoline, tires).

Daugherty told the jury the defendant's testimony was all about attempting to reduce the charge against him from first degree murder to second degree murder. He called Lee a conman:

"It (his testimony) was scripted, it was rehearsed, it was meant to con you."

Daugherty again ripped to shreds Lee's ludicrous claim that Erin confessed to molesting his daughter. When Nichole Lee supposedly suspected her daughter had been molested, NEITHER parent:

• Called the police
• Visited a pediatrician
• Discussed concerns of abuse with Lee's military superiors.

Daugherty called Lee's molestation accusation "asinine garbage." And Erin's so-called "confession" to Lee?

"This NEVER happened."

He then asked the jury the rhetorical question:

"If a man who crafts lies to suit his own needs and to everyone important in his life, what do you think he's going to do to you?"

I'll post the defense's closing statement and the prosecution's rebuttal later this evening...

Day Three - The Prosecution's Case Continues

The first witness today was Joseph Hollifield, the civilian friend of defendant Christopher Lee who took the photographs that ended up being critical in the discovery of Erin Corwin's body. On June 22, 2014, less than a week before Erin disappeared, Lee and Hollifield went out to the same remote mining district that was home to Mine #108 - where searchers found Erin's body in August.

Hollifield dressed in baggy jeans and a brown t-shirt for his court appearance. He admitted when asked by Deputy District Attorney Sean Daugherty that he still considered Chris Lee - and wife Nichole Lee - to be good friends. Key point in his testimony was how Hollifield denied knowing Lee planned to visit the same mining area the week after their June 22nd trip. Daugherty even confronted Hollifield with the undeniable fact he had texted Lee on the day Erin disappeared with the question, "How are the mines?" Hollifield said he didn't know if Lee planned to visit the mines or not. It was just a random text.

Right.

Jon and Erin Corwin/Facebook

The next two witnesses were the San Bernardino Sheriff's deputies who questioned Chris Lee the day after Erin went missing. Both Dep. Danny Millan and Dep. Cathy Tabor described how at first Lee denied knowing Erin as anything more than an acquaintance. Later in in the parking lot of a Vons supermarket, Lee admitted he had a romantic relationship with Erin that involved kissing but not sex. That conversation was tape recorded and played in open court. It was difficult to understand much of what was being said, but one thing that was audible to me was when Chris Lee said with very little emotion that Erin was "a pathological liar." My jaw dropped when I heard that. Both Millan and Tabor reminded Lee many times that he was the one who had lied to them the very first time they interviewed him.

The final two witnesses were involved in the discovery and recovery of Erin's body in the mine shaft. They were Cpl. Robert Whiteside, the program coordinator of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department's Search and Rescue Unit; and Brenton Baum, an Engineer Paramedic for San Bernardino County.

This was the toughest part of the trial so far, because it involved playing video that showed Erin Corwin's body at the bottom of the mine shaft. I won't go into detail. I will say that from my vantage point in the courtroom, it appeared the defendant never took his eyes off the screen. By his own admission, he was romantically involved with Erin at one point. It was horrifying for pretty much everyone in the courtroom to see what had happened to Erin - but not to the man who once kissed and held her. I suppose a guilty man does not know how an innocent man acts.